If you have read an organizing book, blog, or even seen a fabulous home makeover on TV, you know the simple steps of organizing. Don’t let different names throw you off; the steps are all virtually the same:
- Sort
- Purge
- Containerize
- Stand back and reveal in all your hard work
But after you put everything back in its place, what do you do with what doesn’t belong? Does it sit in a box until you decide? Does it get stashed in a closet or drawer until its day of organizing arrives?
Take my junk drawer for example. I don’t even have a before picture because I have been on an organizing rampage and a camera just can’t keep up. Just picture a really messy drawer. Here it is mid-sort:
Once I took everything out of the drawer, I sorted it into piles. Next, I found containers to help keep the piles separated. Containerizing the piles also gives each item a home, which means the drawer has a better chance of staying neat.
Since I am using a variety of boxes, I also added a sticky drawer liner to keep the containers from sliding around in the drawer.
Finally, I refilled the drawer with items I deemed worthy of this prime real estate. This drawer is in a central, easy to reach location and needed to only contain items we use often.
This is the only drawer in the kitchen not used for food related items. It is a lot smaller than my last kitchen all-purpose drawer so I had to choose my items wisely.
We’ve been in this house for a few months (ahem, 11 months) and it helped to have that long in this new kitchen to decide how this drawer could be the most functional.
Here is a list of items that made the cut:
- free notepad from realtors for quick list writing
- Velcro and various adhesives (I use these all the time!)
- Sharpies (regular pens are on the counter)
- camera cover, charger, and camera when not in use
- flashlights (we need these often for some reason)
- tape measure
- matches
- timer
That’s great right? Easy. But wait….what about all of this stuff?
What do I do with all this junk? There’s more off to the side that didn’t even make it into the picture! None of these items belong in this drawer. It’s right about now that I’m often tempted to stop. I’m reveling in the beauty of my newly organized drawer and I have to work hard to muster the energy to relocate the various cast-offs.
But this is where the real work begins. Time to make the hard choices.
Take one more look at that lovely, organized drawer and dive into the leftovers. Reassess what you have before you and do a fresh sort.
Ask yourself:
- Do I use this?
- How often do I use it?
- When and where will I use this?
- Do I have a place for this in the house?
